SWA seating - 2 or 3 in each row?

[princesspumpkin]

How are the seating arrangements on Southwest's airplanes? We have a party of 12 and I'm wondering how we will seat everyone. There are 3 adult couples, 4 girls and 2 boys. Are the seats all 3 in a row or are some 2 and some are 3? Thanks

 

[jstbcuz]

I believe when we flew in Oct that all the rows had 3 seats except for maybe the emergency row which had 2.

I wouldnt count on all sitting together. It just depends on if you are an A, B or C loading. I was an A and people were scatterred making a lot of rows with only 2 seats available. My 2 kids and I did get to sit together. We took the first row with three seats and it was row 19 I believe.

Good luck!

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Southwest flies all 737s, which are usually rows of three seats on either side of the aisle.

I'd check at the gate and see if they'll allow you to preboard since you have all the kids to consider.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Thanks for the quick replies! Only one family has a child under 4. The other 2 families' children are ages 7-10. We'll print our boarding passes at 12:01am and the family with the 3 1/2 year old will get to pre-board. I was just wondering about the seats. I know that the girls will want to sit together, so if there were rows of 2, we could split them up into pairs. But with only rows of 3, someone's not going to be happy

 

[jstbcuz]

Put them in groups of 2 right across from each other with the aisle seperating them. It works great.

 

[chasbos]

How many seats are there on these planes? Are there 2 rows of 3 on the outside and then 5 in the middle?

I am also planning on printing our boarding passes at our hotel at 12:01 a.m. because we have 4 kids of our own and we would like to be near each other. We do not all have to sit together because the girls are used to sitting 2 - 2 - 2! We flew to St. Maarten last year (with assigned seats) and we still did not get to sit together going there or coming home! Going home we sat in 3 different rows with one other person sitting with us! Go figure how much sense that makes - the 6 of us would have filled up 2 rows but no give us 3 rows and 3 other people had to sit among our family. Oh well, it worked it great and 2 of my kids actually got to sit with an airline pilot who was on vacation and he taught them a lot about airplanes and turbulance - they had a great flight home!

 

[Ted and Holly]

How many seats are there on these planes? Are there 2 rows of 3 on the outside and then 5 in the middle?

I am also planning on printing our boarding passes at our hotel at 12:01 a.m. because we have 4 kids of our own and we would like to be near each other. We do not all have to sit together because the girls are used to sitting 2 - 2 - 2! We flew to St. Maarten last year (with assigned seats) and we still did not get to sit together going there or coming home! Going home we sat in 3 different rows with one other person sitting with us! Go figure how much sense that makes - the 6 of us would have filled up 2 rows but no give us 3 rows and 3 other people had to sit among our family. Oh well, it worked it great and 2 of my kids actually got to sit with an airline pilot who was on vacation and he taught them a lot about airplanes and turbulance - they had a great flight home!

Chas, 737s are not widebody planes. They have two sets of 3 seats on each row.

Ted

 

[chasbos]

Well, you learn something new every day! I had joked to my kids when we flew Air Transat last year after flying KLM that we would be in a tin can and crammed! Now I have to tease them again because this plane is going to be even smaller - good thing it is only a 2 hour flight!

 

[Ted and Holly]

Well, you learn something new every day! I had joked to my kids when we flew Air Transat last year after flying KLM that we would be in a tin can and crammed! Now I have to tease them again because this plane is going to be even smaller - good thing it is only a 2 hour flight!

You are right. The Boeing 737 is definitely more narrow than the Airbus a310 and A330 planes in the Air Transat Fleet. Looks like both of those have 8 abreast seating in Economy class. The 737s have 6 abreast.

I am not sure what KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flies, but I did read that they have a relatively young fleet. of course, that does not mean anything in regards to what family of aircraft it uses.

Southwest seating isn't terrible when you compare it to economy class of other carriers.

Ted